As usual, Var Kim Hong, the government minister of border affairs, claims no knowledge of the border problems occuring along the Vietnamese border in Ratanakiri province, until he heard about it on RFA broadcasting. Local Cambodian population have been prevented from farming lands which they have cultivated long before 1995. According to the 1995 border agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam, population from both sides will maintain their activities on disputed border area. Therefore, the current prevention by the Vietnamese authorities is a flagrant violation of the 1995 border agreement. (Photo RFA)27 March 2006
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
Var Kim Hong, the minister in charge of border affairs, said on 26 March 2006 that he does not have clear information regarding the report of the Vietnamese [authority] preventing Cambodians living in the province of Ratanakiri from farming their lands.
He said that he had just heard about the news only yesterday after the broadcasting by Radio Free Asia.
The minister in charge of border affairs and president of the national border committee said that Vietnam should not prevent the farming by Cambodian people on lands which they have cultivated long before 1995.
The January 1995 agreement [between Cambodia and Vietnam] specified that in areas where there is doubt on borders, the situation for both parties will be preserved based on the existing situation, i.e. whichever side is performing any activity in that area, it will keep performing that activity there.
Var Kim Hong said that the Cambodian authorities had also prevented the Vietnamese population and army from bulldozing areas along the border in Ratanakiri province and in Phnom Den (Takeo province) also.
Var Kim Hong said: “I don’t know yet why they [the Vietnamese] prevented it because these lands have been cultivated by us [Cambodians] in the past, they should not prevent it.”
He said that he had just heard about the news only yesterday after the broadcasting by Radio Free Asia.
The minister in charge of border affairs and president of the national border committee said that Vietnam should not prevent the farming by Cambodian people on lands which they have cultivated long before 1995.
The January 1995 agreement [between Cambodia and Vietnam] specified that in areas where there is doubt on borders, the situation for both parties will be preserved based on the existing situation, i.e. whichever side is performing any activity in that area, it will keep performing that activity there.
Var Kim Hong said that the Cambodian authorities had also prevented the Vietnamese population and army from bulldozing areas along the border in Ratanakiri province and in Phnom Den (Takeo province) also.
Var Kim Hong said: “I don’t know yet why they [the Vietnamese] prevented it because these lands have been cultivated by us [Cambodians] in the past, they should not prevent it.”
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